


Not This Again

by Kuween



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentioned Abusive Relationships, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-06 16:01:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11604009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kuween/pseuds/Kuween
Summary: Ever since the incident occurring with sleeping over at Robert's house, Michael couldn't shake the feeling of fear and regret.*This fic contains several lines/scenes from the game itself although some parts are altered to help with the form of the story.





	1. The Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> I deleted all of my old fics bc they were ugly in exchange for this one, hope this is good for y'all even tho it's fairly short
> 
> I've been p obsessed with Dream Daddy lately so like here ya go lmao
> 
> Go and visit my Social media-
> 
> • dA - TheKuween  
> • Twitter - KuweenKat  
> • Tumblr - TheKuween  
> • IG - Kuween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED IMMENSELY AS OF 7/27/27.  
> RECOMMENDED TO THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY READ THIS CHAPTER TO REREAD.

Ch 1

Ever since the incident occurring with sleeping over at Robert's house, Michael couldn't shake the feeling of fear and regret.

The time at the bar had a promising start set for him. A good person next to him, his preferred team winning the match and a few good drinks. The day had been a long one as well after meeting several people and moving in along with that. Winding down at the bar after Amanda had set up herself sleepover had seemed like a good decision with how it ended up now. He night ended with Robert had inviting him into his home. Michael at first thought of it as a simple visit or something in the sense until the first thing that happened was a kiss.  
Michael didn't think much of it, the drinks that the two of them had had made his mind stuffy and blurred, allowing more permission for Robert to do what he wished.

He had appreciated that he asked for his consent before getting more heated into what they were doing. That was the thing most clearest to him that night. However, when the morning arrived--

"You should go."

Michael certainly wasn't expecting that type of response.

He froze, not expecting such a blatant statement, dare he say command, fall out of the man's mouth. "What?" His grip on the blanket over his naked body tightened. Michael swallowed thickly.  
"I said, 'You should go.'" Robert's gruff voice was met with his surprise, a hint of confusion adding onto it.

Michael's hope of a relationship with Robert plummeted in his stomach as he swallowed thickly and nodded, fumbling for his clothes quickly. "Um... Maybe we could talk later...?" It was practically almost a plead instead of question spoken in a whisper. Michael refrained from breaking out into a sad tone, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of such a man. Robert cracked into a smile.

"Yeah, sure."  
The worst part of all of this was that Robert actually seemed like this was all okay. Nothing intimate, just a one-night stand.  
Michael only nodded weakly towards him, leaving without another word.

As the shy man was going back to his home, he asked himself a lot of questions. One most importantly; was all that talk at the bar just talk? He really seemed to like Robert, but hearing those words...  
Those didn't reassure him at all that they could've actually been something.

-

On his way home, he couldn't shake the echo that remained in his head saying, "You should go" nor the throbbing in it from his hangover. More importantly, never would he know that such a small sentence could shake him to his core. He quickly speed-walked over to his home and fast as he could without shaking his head too much and entered his pale pink colored abode, eyes meeting with his daughter's the minute he comes in. "Hey sweetie, how was your sleepover?"  
Amanda smiled and flopped herself onto the couch. "It was good, how was your game?" Michael sucked in a breath and paused, giving himself a little time before answering. "It-it was good. My team won!" He prayed that she didn't notice his small stutter that foolishly erupted at the start of his reply. "Say, where are the Emmas?" The dad looked around for any sign of them but no luck. "Oh, they left earlier in the morning. Glad to hear you had a fun night though, pops."  
His smile was genuine this time except interrupted by another buzz in his head. The smell of breakfast luckily got him distracted from it for a moment. "Hey, is that breakfast?" Amanda smirked, knowing exactly of what her father was going to say next. "Can I-?"  
"YES, you can have some breakfast." The girl said, rolling her eyes in a jokingly way. Michael smiled until his head pounded once more. He grunted in annoyance and pain. "Uhm, sweetie, I may, uh, have overdone it last night..." The man looked at her daughter with a hopeful look in his eyes, met by a laugh. "No way! Looks like someone's hangover!" Not the response he hoped for but instead what he expected. The bearded man couldn't help but smirk himself, placing a hand on top of his head, dodging his messy bun. "Got any aspirin?"

"Actually, I have something better." Michael looked at her quizzically as she sauntered over to the kitchen, coming back with a bar of... pickles?  
"Drink this."  
You've got to be joking. "You're kidding, right?" Please tell him she was...  
"I saw that it helps, okay? Just try it. I don't know if it actually works, I haven't tried it myself and don't plan on to. But you, for one, need to! Drink up, dad!"  
He hated pickles with a passion but for 'Manda Panda, he'll... consider. Dear God, let this be quick for both of them. "Ergh, fine! Just hope this is worth it." Michael took a tiny sip before gagging almost immediately. He could barely catch the roll of Amanda's eyes. "C'mon, you have to drink more than that!" Michael took a big breath of air before starting to chug the jar, he could've sworn he felt a tear draw down his cheek in the process. Other than that, it would've grossly been pickle juice as well. He downed half of the jar before ripping his lips away from the edge, gasping for breath. Amanda cheered loudly and gathered the jar from his hands. "Great job! But, you should probably wash up." His daughter pointed at his face, where streaks of pickle juice could be seen around his lips and trickled in his beard. Absolutely disgusting. 

Michael ran to the bathroom and began a thorough wash of his face while also brushing his teeth the rid of the taste of pickle. When he stepped out, it was hard to miss the stifled giggles from his only child. It was his turn to roll his eyes this time. "Right, reeaaal funny." He chuckled and shook his head, scratching the back of his head.  
Amanda cracked up just then, bursting with laughter. "I can't believe you actually did that! I'm proud of you. I know how much you hate pickles." Her grin was as bright as the sun just then.  
"Anywho, that was fun. Let's eat breakfast quick, I gotta get to class and you have to go meet up with my English teacher!" Thank god that Amanda mentioned that, with all of the stuff leading up to now, he had completely forgotten about the Parent-Teacher meeting. They ate their food as fast as they could without choking and made their way to the car, taking a swift drive over to the high school.

Amanda kissed her father's cheek and waved goodbye as she walked out the door, off to her school. Michael sighed and cleaned up the dishes in the meantime. At least he was finally able to get some work done for some commissions. He went upstairs to his room and sat flat on his spinny-chair of which was in front of his desk that had a carefully placed Cintiq in center. "Time to get some work done."

Michael had set up a timer for himself, 20 minutes prior to the meeting he had to go to. It went off with a loud ring which startled him out of his focus in drawing. He promised himself that he would be working on the commissions he got from several "customers" from online but instead, Michael was found drawing vent art, ironically by his own surprise as well. A dark picture of a simple blank figure, crying tears of sorrow. The words that escaped from Robert's mouth were written numerous times in the background as the figure held their head in their hands. Michael stared at his own drawing for several minutes before he found himself to have his eyes well up with tears of his own. The man quickly wiped them away and didn't hesitate on deleting the unsaved canvas. 

With a grunt, the father made way to his wardrobe to put on something nice for his incoming meeting; his signature outfit of a white dress shirt, purple knit sweater of which had rolled sleeves, black leggings and flats. He viewed himself in the mirror and gave himself a few compliments of his appearance before grabbing his keys and hopping downstairs and out the door.

-

Michael looked at the close-to-foreign school building with astonishing confusion of where he needed to go. The people at the front had given him a vibrant orange visitor sticker but hadn't provided him directions over to Mr. Vega's room. Luckily, there was a kid by his locker still, perhaps he could go ask directions from him.  
"Um, excuse me, do you know where I could go find Mr. Vega's room by any chance?" Although the boy was just a kid, he looked incredibly intimidating for his age. Dark eyes with enough piercings to describe as a punk look. Michael shivered in self-consciousness. The punk turned his over to him with a bored look on his face and sighed. "Mr. Who?"  
"Mr. Vega." Michael punctuated each part of his name. In a flash, the punk gave out a sly smile. "I dunno, tried going to the exit?" He sneered.  
Michael's cheeks couldn't help but turn pink in embarrassment and light irritation of the child's behavior. "Hey, I'm late for a meeting. Please, would you just show me where to look for his room?" The man sighed at the kid in contrast. The punk sighed once more. "Fine, upstairs to your left. You can't miss him." Michael gave one last nod before heading up, following the kid's directions. However, no matter how many times he checked, he could find Mr. Vega's classroom anywhere. The dad made his way back downstairs after realizing the child's directions were wrong. But, speak of the devil, at the moment that he went to the punk once more, a man's head popped out of a classroom next to his locker. "Lucien, don't you have a third period to get to?" The punk, Lucien, rolled his eyes and scoffed to him. "Ugh, fine Mr. Vega..." And with that, Lucien left the scene. Wow.  
"We're not cool." Michael glared at the kid as he walked away.  
"Ah, you must be Michael! Amanda's father, right?" The dad snapped from his bitter thoughts and locked his focus on Mr. Vega. "Uh, yeah!" Mr. Vega smiled and offered him inside. "This period is almost over. If you could do me a favor, please wait in the back." Michael looked in the classroom where a roomful of small students stared directly at the two. He backed away shyly before shaking him together to muster enough courage to go to the back, head ducked behind his hand as his face turned red in the process. Although he loved children, he sucked at facing such a large crowd. Especially if they're just staring at him blankly. 

Michael took his seat which was unsurprisingly tight for his body type but sucked in a breath to tuck in his stomach enough so he fit comfortably. "Alright," Mr. Vega clapped his hands together. "Where were we? Ah, yes, who can tell me about the unreliability of the narrator in J.D. Salinger's Catcher of the Rye?"  
One of the students in the middle section of the desks raised his hand. "Yes, Colin?" The kid named Colin stood up and made an elbow fart, making all of the students around him burst with laughter. Mr. Vega could say differently. "Alright, alright, everybody. Very funny, Colin. Please sit down." Colin happily obliged with a wide grin plastered on his face.  
"Now, Holden Caulfield is an unreliable narrator in the sense that-" The bell had rung before he could finish what he was explaining. And at the same time, each student made their way to the door, pushing each other out of the way to get out of the classroom. "Remember to do the reading and answer the response questions in page 194 in your textbook-"  
No one was listening.  
"Or maybe not."  
Michael couldn't help but feel bad for Mr. Vega and the struggles of being a teacher. He turns around to look at him and sighs. "Middle schoolers, right?"  
"I thought you taught high schoolers?" Michael tilted his head slightly to the side. "Both. You know... budget cuts." Mr. Vega scratched at his chin. "Right."  
"Thanks so much for coming in." Mr. Vega smiled this time, genuine. "It's not a problem, Mr. Vega." He smiled right back at the teacher. "Please, call me Hugo."

Michael took note of that. Hugo. That name suited him nicely, sophisticated enough for a man like his age. "I don't normally do these impromptu parent/teacher meetings, but as I'm sure you know Amanda's a very bright student and I'm concerned about her recent behavior." Recent behavior? What could Amanda possibly be doing wrong in her class? "Huh? What's going on?"  
"Amanda has never been the most... engaged... student, but I know she cares. Recently, though, she's been falling behind. She's not completing assignments and has been doing rather poorly on tests. I'd normally chalk this up as senioritis but..." This was all very strange to Michael, he always thought that Amanda shared everything with him, especially things about her school life. "I just wanted to ask- is everything alright at home?"  
Michael froze. Thoughts about the Robert incident had immediately flooded in but he bit it back in his mind. Although Amanda had been concerned about him, he doubts that that would've been one of the reasons for her recent downfall in her academics. "Well, we just moved, but it was just the other side of town. Amanda was more excited about it than I was." Hugo sighed and put a hand on his head, glancing at the clock before turning his head back to Michael. "See if you could talk to her about it. I know she values you a great deal and would appreciate your guidance. If she keeps heading down this road... I know how important Art School is to her and I would hate to see her miss out on scholarship money that she clearly deserves."

"I'll make sure I'll talk to Amanda. Thank you for telling me about this, Hugo." Michael nodded sternly, concerned and worried about his daughter. "Anytime." They shook hands and Michael made his way to the door but stopped and turned his head around for one last say in their conversation. Since they're apparently casual with each other, why not make more of it?  
"Hey, Hugo?"  
Hugo was at his desk by now gathering his papers and other belongings. He looked up.  
"Yes?"  
"Did they ever catch that Rye?"  
Hugo didn't seem to be expecting this kind of question, taken aback by the sudden engagement of the topic they were talking about in class from earlier before. He hesitated on giving an answer.

"Yes."

-

Amanda would've wanted a ride back home after such a day. Plus, it would give him the perfect opportunity to be giving her the talk that he and Hugo had discussed back at his classroom. Michael was worried for Amanda, he had no idea that this was happening with her until now. He just wish she would've told him sooner instead of a meeting being held to explain to him of the situation at hand. This and his thoughts of Robert were the two things stressing him out now.  
He saw Amanda wave goodbye to her friends before hopping right into shotgun, a big smile on her face. "Heya pops, how was the meeting with Mr. Vega?"

"Mr. Vega and I actually talked about our celebrity crushes." Amanda giggled, "So you talked about Mario Batali the whole time? Michael shook his head while chuckling. "It was a very productive meeting." Amanda laughed along with him before patting her stomach. "I'm pretty hungry, can we grab something to eat?"  
Michael thought about where to go to go grab food. They could just go home and make their own meal or just go to the food court and see what's in stored for them. It took him a minute or two to decide between the two options and eventually went with, "How about the foodcourt down at the mall, how's that sound?" Amanda nodded but tilted her head as a confused gesture. "Yeah, sure. But why the mall?" The dad pouted jokingly. "Geez, can't a dad take his daughter to the mall?"  
Amanda saw opportunity! "Will you buy me things?" He should've known that she'd ask a question like that. "I will buy you a thing. Singular." His daughter grinned. "Sounds like a deal to me!"  
The drive was silent for the long run. Robert had gone into his mind more than once with this silence and he was beginning to grow uncomfortable. Given the silence between the two, it was an opportunity to discuss about what actually happened in the meeting between him and Hugo. He glimpsed over at Amanda, who was playing a game on her phone. Michael readjusted his grip on the steering wheel. "You know, sometimes when a kid gets older, they find that they had to keep things hidden from their parents. And that's okay, because sometimes that's what kids do." Amanda looked up and at her dad, who was looking off into the distance of the road instead of facing her while talking, concern smeared over his face.  
"And that's okay. But also sometimes it's good to have parent's perspective, because, you know, maybe the parents have also dealt with similar situations." Amanda tilted her headed again, surprised. "And maybe they're a little cooler than you give them credit for. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is it's good to share. Love you."

Amanda took a moment to process what he was saying before opening her mouth to reply with, "Have you been reading my tweets?"  
What.  
"You have a Twitter?" Amanda backed away from the subject as fast as ever, wanting to dodge questions regarding what she was tweeting about. "What? Never mind." Michael sighed quietly. "Mr. Vega said that you haven't been participating in class and that you're not handing things in." Amanda's tension from before of almost revealing her Twitter cleared away mostly, but it was definitely still there. "Oh, pops. I'm fine. Senioritis and all of that." Michael took a quick look at Amanda before back at the road. "But I thought you liked Mr. Vega's class?"  
"It's fine. He's fine."  
A moment passed before Michael pulled up by a stoplight. He finally took a full look over at Amanda. She was texting again. "Just... I want you to know that you can talk to me about anything." Amanda furrowed her eyebrows now, looking a bit irritated for some reason. "Uh huh." Was she even listening now? The dad decided to change the subject for a bit seemingly because Amanda didn't want him to know what was going on. That was frustrating. "So... I heard Emma R.'s going to that fancy Art School at California. That's exciting!"  
"Yep."  
Michael's self esteem was going downwards with this now of how Amanda was responding to him. Self consciousness roaming on his skin. He sighed. "Are you bummed that you two aren't going to the same Art School?"  
"Yep."  
Amanda keeps texting. Michael bites his lip but just then, she stifles a laugh. "What's so funny?" Amanda cracked a smile. "Uh... it's uh... I don't think you'd get it...?" She ponders to herself on how to explain to her dad what she laughed about. "Okay..." Michael scratched at his cheek. "Who ya texting?"  
"Noah."  
Noah? Never heard of that kid.  
"Who's Noah?"  
"My friend." The taps of her fingers filled a gap of noise between their short replies to each other. "Does he go to your school?"  
"Yep."  
Michael thought of a daring question. "Do you... like... Noah?" This made Amanda jump at that one, immediately turning her head over at her dad. An undeniable blush brushed her cheeks as she tried finding words. "What! No! Dad!" Her one-worded responses made it all the more convincing. "Ugh. I can't believe you would... Dad. I mean geez." It was Michael's turn to smile this time.  
"Why would you... ugh... gross."  
Michael hid his hand behind his grin and waved a hand as a gesture. "Sorry, sorry, just asking."  
"Dad! He's just my friend." Amanda pouted. "Guys and girls can be friends! He's just a friend."  
"Okay, okay." Wow, how long was this going to go on now? "Geez." Amanda grunted. Michael laughed fully now. This was going well again at least. "Well, good talk. Love ya, kiddo." He saw her shift and lean forward to turn on the radio. Guess that conversation was done. He took a glimpse of her face, the blush was still there. How cute. Michael proceeded his drive over to the mall. 

They finally arrive, looking around the big plaza of several varieties of shops and restaurants. It's kind of dead today though but that didn't stop a security guard to yell at a group of loitering teens. "Let's eat something disgusting for dinner!"  
"Hell yeah."  
"Language, missy."  
"Heck yeah...?"  
"Better."  
They stepped over to the Food court and looked over to what their options were. All of the restaurants were greasy on top of greasy. Michael feels sick just looking at all of the options over the menus. Amanda tugs at his arm. "What're you in the mood for, bread dipped in sugar, bread with cheese on it, or do you want me to inject some fat directly into your bloodstream?" Michael laughs and extends a hand over to her, "Would you do me the honor of sharing some nachos?"  
She takes his hand with a big grin. "It would make me the happiest, cheesiest girl alive." The two order a large amount of nachos of which was topped off with unnaturally orange, gooey cheese from a questionable looking teenager. The father and daughter take a seat over at one of the nearby tables and dig into their meal. Amanda scrunches her nose. "These are bad. These are very bad."  
Michael licks his lips. "But also... strangely delicious...?" He was astonished by how could a fatty meal taste so good to him. Amanda pouted at him. "We have to eat through the pain." They continue to eat the pile of nachos before Michael wipes his mouth with a napkin, ready to ask something. "So..." It's a very important question of which he's been dying to figure out. "Can you explain memes to me?"  
Amanda rolls her eyes and sighs. "Which meme?"  
"All. All memes."  
His daughter sighs again and places her head in her hands now. "Dad, it's complicated. See, memes are inside jokes shared by a bunch of people that get less funny the more people do it. So the problem is that by the time a meme gets to you, dad, all of us Youths have already done the joke to death." She explained, doing a bunch of hand gestures that flail back and forth to express herself and the cycle of memes. "And what's worse than that is that movies and TVs and video games will try to jump in on the meme train, but just based on how long it takes to make them, the meme will be long dead by the time it comes out. So it just dates it and isn't funny."  
Michael pondered for a moment for a meme he saw.  
"O shit waddup?"  
Amanda groans. "Dad, please." She said before shaking her head, regaining her small smile. "Anyway, changing the subject. Where to now?"  
Michael scratched at his beard, recalling a store hat Amanda used to go to all the time. "Wanna go to that goth store?"  
"What?"  
Michael shrugged. "You know, the one that's all black and tries to establish itself as anti-establishment despite being an exact representation of the establishment?"  
Amanda cocked her eyebrow. "I... don't know what store you're talking about...?" Confusion dripped in her voice. "You know, the one where you can buy chain wallets and it's basically an assault on what people fought so hard against in the punk and hardcore movements of the 70s and 80s?"  
"Dude, you gotta be more specific." Michael sighed, knowing exactly as she meant even though he was being as specific as he could be right now. "The one you threw up in that one time." Amanda perked up and smiled. "Oh! That one!" She raised her fists up in glee.

-

Walking over to the store, this gave Michael the time to think. The whole day, Amanda got rid of these thoughts of Robert which was a big relief on its own but... he was going to have to meet him again eventually. But at what cost and at what time? Would he be prepared for it? Would he back away and run like he normally did? Michael wished he would be able to take his problems head on but he was scared. Normally one wouldn't think of a one-night stand as something as threatening as Michael did but not everyone had an abusive relationship in the past. Especially more than one. A flash of his past "lover" had appeared in his mind, making him startle out of his thoughts just in time that the two of them had entered the goth store. The shy man sighed in relief as he look around at the punk look of the establishment. Amanda ran to the back of the store, looking at the ground in hopes of, "There it is! You can still see the outline kind of." Gross. "I'm so... proud?"  
"Speech!"  
Oh no.  
"Amanda, sweetie-"  
"Speech! Speech! SPEECH! SPEE-"  
Michael tried shooshing his daughter as he found his face to grow red as other patrons began turning their head over to the loud pair. "ALRIGHT, I'LL DO IT IF YOU STOP CHANTING." He hadn't meant to raise his voice, causing one or two more heads to turn. He sighed and shook his head before clearing his throat to be prepared to begin his speech.  
"Thank you all for joining us here today to commemorate a historic moment that would forever shape... history." The dad coughed awkwardly while saying that part. "On a day very much like today some five years ago, our very own Amanda Ann Nguyen had too much Blue Raspberry Slushee on an outing to the mall." Michael paused, looking if anyone was overhearing his speech. "After begging her father to take her to Dead, Goth and Beyond to buy rainbow suspenders, she proceeded to throw up all over a display of My Chemical Romance merchandise. Her loving father had to pay for said merchandise which to this day remain among our possessions. Thank you." He shivered at the vivid details of that day, he had witnessed each second of his daughter vomiting everywhere on the merchandise and all its glory. Just thinking about him got him nauseas, you would imagine how he felt just saying a speech about it in public. However and at that moment, Amanda begins to clap over how moved she was at the speech. Slow at first until it began faster and louder. This got several patrons heads to turn over at them and surprisingly enough, one even clapped with her. Michael turner red-faced even more before bowing his head from the applause but still hiding his face behind a hand. Amanda stops clapping and sighs happily before a certain item takes her eye. "Oh hey, chain wallets!" She begins going over towards them along with t-shirts next to the selection. Might as well go browse the store for himself. Michael goes towards an assortment of mugs of which all say "#1 Dad". This gives him a minor existential crisis. If he wasn't the only #1 Dad then what was the purpose?! Just then, he overheard an argument over where the cashier counter was. 

"Look, this is very important to me."  
Michael turns his attention over at the two argue with each other. The cashier, however, looked like they could honestly care less. The customer though, they were interesting. An older looking man with a sort of garment draped over his shoulders with long, raven's hair. This guy looked way out of his league... Michael flushed.  
"I can see that. Don't know what to tell you dude. I just work here."  
"Listen, when I bought this online the website said this blouse was Victorian-inspired. However when I received it, it CLEARLY held the trademark of Edwardian dressage."  
The cashier sighed and shook their head, pink hair following behind them. "Do you want a coupon? I can give you a coupon. Will you leave if I give you a coupon?" The man had furrowed his eyebrows together frustratingly. "Is there a manager present? People have to know what they're buying." The pink-haired person raised an eyebrow and scoffed, "I AM the manager."

The goth was slightly taken aback by this but almost immediately regained his composure. "I see. Well it would seem that I have outstayed my welcome. Good day, shopkeep. Your superiors will receive a strongly-worded letter by post." The manager rolled their eyes in response. "Whatever, dude." And at that moment, he turned around and storms out of the store, cloak (dare he say cape?) waving behind him as he strutted away in the distance. Just then, Michael saw Amanda walk over to him, t-shirt in hand. Oh boy, he knows where this is headed. "Heeeeyyyy Dadtron 5000?" Yep, called it.  
"YES, I will buy it for you."  
"Wow, that was easy. Thanks!"  
Michael chuckled, "At least it's just one this time."  
Amanda props the t-shirt onto the counter, looking up at the cashier. "I love your hair." She smiled. The manager, however, doesn't say anything about it and rings Amanda up. Michael pulls out a twenty from his pocket and points behind him with a thumb. "So what was that guy's deal?"  
The cashier rolls her eyes worryingly hard. "That's Damien. He's in here all the time. He's obsessed with Victorian fashion or whatever." The girl says while stuffing the shirt into the bag, handing it the Amanda, she doesn't say anything else after that, leaving the conversation to be done. "Damien". What an interesting guy...

Michael and Amanda soon after drive home. Once they get in, they quickly manage themselves with bowls of ice cream and place themselves over into the couch, finding what to watch while eating their delicious treats. Amanda finally perks up after finding a good channel. "Oh cool! Long Haul Paranormal Ice Road Ghost Truckers is on! Your favorite, right?" She looked up at her dad. "Oh hel-" He stops himself, flushing. Amanda raises an eyebrow and smirks at him. Couldn't swear in front of his baby girl, the sweet dad he always was. "Oh heck yes. They have to make it over the Canadian tundra before the ice road melts and also they're hunting ghosts. Also the trucks are haunted."  
No time to explain what the episode was about, Michael was too into it already. He always was when his favorite shows were on. "This is art." Amanda grins.

After the episode ends, Amanda excuses herself to go upstairs to her room to go do some of her Internet arguments. Michael decides to watch another episode. Once that one was done, he washes the two bowls. Throughout the silence, he loses himself in his thoughts of really anything.  
In his thoughts, he saw himself in nothingness. Just a black abyss until he hears a voice in the distance. 

"You should go." 

He startles and turns around to see the direction of where it came from.

"You should go."

Footsteps are heard. Michael turns around again and this time, he sees a figure.

"You should go."

It's Robert. His face was the same concrete look as he first saw him with. It was more than unsettling.

"You should go."

By a blink of an eye, Robert is turned into a different person. One he hasn't seen in years. Just then, Michael is in a whole different area, a house. Not too shabby but still messy in some parts. A hand grabs him by the collar. "You're a disgrace. I'm surprised I didn't leave you a long time ago."  
He's face to face with one he would never dare say his name again.  
"You're nothing without me but I'm everything with out you." Michael shook his head vigorously, his voice refusing to bubble out of his mouth despite wanting to.  
"You're pathetic. You're not worth my time. Leave or you'll regret it." There was a large bite to his words as he threw Michael to the floor harshly. Tears began to sting. "N-no, please-" A sharp sting on his cheek was met with his desperate plead.

"I said, 'You should go.' NOW."  
The man didn't look back. Michael sobbed.

Michael blinked himself back to the present, surprised to feel real tears drop down, splashing into the sink. The sink, on the other hand, was close to overflowing with how long the sink had been running. Michael hissed to himself and let the drain open, putting the wet bowls onto the drying racks. He stared at his hands for a moment before clenching them, grabbing a towel and drying himself. Maybe... some sleep would help him. These thoughts weren't helping him, he's just lucky that Amanda was here to distract his thoughts. If not for her, he didn't know if he'd last this long or even near to this long... Michael walked up the stairs, pausing at his door, looking at Amanda's instead. It took a few minutes before going into his room and closing the door behind him.  
The dad sighed sadly and removed his sweater and shirt, tossing them on his chair. He grabbed a random tank top from his wardrobe and put it over himself, grabbing a pair of sweatpants afterwards, taking his own off to put the other pair on. Laying in bed after he was finished dressing, he silently cried to himself once more after imaging the same scene over and over, soon to pass off into a slumber not worth at all being called a good one.


	2. *NOT A CHAPTER

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *NOT A CHAPTER, JUST A NOTICE

Hi guys ! I have IMMENSELY updated the first chapter with an entirely clean polish. I'm surprised myself on how many words I've been able to make of this chapter and unfortunately, I'm not even sure if I can do as good as I did with the first chapter. I do sincerely hope you enjoy it though and I highly recommend that those who have read the first chapter to read it again, I've almost updated the entire chapter + entirely new scenes along with it. Thank you and I hope you stick for my new chapter! Terribly sorry that this one wasn't a real one though.

**Author's Note:**

> Go and visit my Social media-
> 
> • dA - TheKuween  
> • Twitter - KuweenKat  
> • Tumblr - TheKuween  
> • IG - Kuween


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